20+ time best-selling mystery author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Serenity) has just published the last book in a long running series, and ended it in such a way to possibly anger every one of his fans - he killed the main character. Meanwhile, his publisher (who happens to be one of his two ex-wives) has gotten word that Castle's writing has dried up quite a bit over the past few months and is pushing him to come up with something new.
That something new practically falls in his lap when a trio of murders catches the eye of Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) and she realizes that all three are taken straight from Castle mystery novels. She and her department invite Castle to consult in the investigation and his unique view of murder and the ability to see around red herrings and look for the twists that make a good mystery allows he and Beckett to solve the case. It is Castle's brief time working on this case with Beckett that gets his creative juices flowing again.
The first episode is all about the Castle-copycat killer, but the rest of the season is all about Castle following Beckett around getting a feel for how she works, who she is and what she does, because it seems that she is his new muse and his new hard-boiled detective is being modeled after her.
Beckett's surrounded by a few good cops. Supporting her (basically doing all the dirty work) are Detectives Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever). Meanwhile, Castle has his own form of support in his daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) and his thespian of a mother, Martha (Susan Sullivan). These extra four characters might be mere support characters, but they really offer a lot to the overall feel of the show. The lower-level detectives offer quite a bit of banter, especially with Castle (much to Beckett's chagrin) and Castle's family ends up offering up a surprising amount of insight as he shares information about the cases he consults on and gets outsider perspectives from them.
As for the actual mysteries that Castle: The Complete First Season presents, some are okay, but most are really good. But even the episodes that have only moderately interesting crime scenes end up having some strange twists befitting any number of mystery novels. Episodes I really liked include "Home is Where the Heart Stops," where the duo investigates a string of murders of New York's high society where the victim's most prized jewels always end up missing. Another good one is "Little Girl Lost" where Beckett and Castle work a kidnapping case, and an old FBI flame of Beckett's shows up to add a little competition to the undertones of sexual tension already developing between the two main characters.
Castle has a good bit of humor thrown in as well to help offset the macabre nature of the show. These scenes are usually pulled off by Fillion's character's huge ego, numerous connections throughout the city and off-the-cuff attitude. In fact, more times than not, Castle reminded me of a much more family-friendly version of Hank Moody from Californication, which is a character I really enjoy. This dash of comedy really helps to lighten the overall feel of the show and adds a lot to its overall feel.
The additional features found on the last disc of Castle: The Complete First Season include a nice reel of bloopers as well as a lengthy featurette on how the show came about, but the extras that I really enjoyed were Nathan Fillion's Write-Along which is a comical look at Fillion following the show's producer and long-time TV mystery writer, Stephen J. Cannell, to learn how to be a writer. The other interesting featurette is an interview with Cannell (who has a cameo in the show's pilot) and the show's other creators about how the team got together and got to know each other before tackling this TV series.
When it comes down to it, Castle is a pretty good series. It starts off a little slow but before the season is over, you can really see why ABC decided to pick it up for another year. If you are a fan of prime-time murder mysteries, then Castle's unique blend of characters, twists and murders are bound to peek your interest.
